The first quarter of 2012 could see Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) finalise its expansion plans that would help boost Bahrain’s refining capacity to nearly half a million bpd.
The expansion is part of Bahrain’s overall strategy to increase its crude oil production to 100,000 bpd by 2017 from the current 40,000 bpd.
The board still need to give final approval but according to Bapco CEO Faisal Mohamed Al-Mahroos, “hopefully by the first quarter, the studies will be over to make a decision for the upgrade,” reported Reuters.
Bapco’s current refining capacity is 267,000 bpd and the new proposed expansion could see Bapco's refining capacity rise to 460,000 bpd.
“We have now five old crude units. The idea is to replace one or two crude units. We are going to replace the FCC (fluid catalytic cracker) unit with a new one,” Mahroos said.
The expansion would cost around US$5 billion to US$6 billion, Bahrain's Oil Minister Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza was quoted as saying in June.
“It could be US$5 billion to US$6 billion or it could be US$6 billion to US$7 billion, plus or minus. It will depend on the board decision,” Mahroos added.
Around 95 per cent of Bapco's production is exported, mostly to Asia.
